New Study: Big Leap in Consumer Broadband Benefits
NextGenWeb is excited to share some very telling and important findings from a new study by Jonathan Orszag, Mark Dutz and Robert Willig that document a dramatic leap in the benefits enjoyed by Americans who use broadband. The study is titled “The Substantial Consumer Benefits of Broadband Connectivity for U.S. Households,” and was released this week by the Internet Innovation Alliance.
Key findings:
• Net consumer benefits from home broadband use soared to $32 billion a year—up from $20 billion in 2005. This rapid rise reflects expanding benefits in education, health care, employment, news, entertainment and civic affairs. More households now see high-speed Internet as a necessity.
• Continuing investment in more robust, high-speed networks would provide an additional $6 billion in annual consumer benefits.
• Significant broadband adoption gaps exist among different households. For example, 82% of Asian-American households have broadband, while only 57% of African-American households have it. Similarly, 84% of Gen Y households (ages 18-24) have broadband, while only 43% of senior-led households (65+) can say the same.
• Among those who are connected to broadband at home, households value broadband similarly across race. However, the same is not true across generations, with younger households valuing broadband significantly more than older households (45+).
…More powerful evidence of the rapidly growing value that broadband brings into our lives—and fresh insights that help us better understand the challenge of promoting broadband’s benefits to all Americans.
social networking